Ian Cowie was named Consumer Affairs Journalist of the Year in the
London Press Club Awards 2012. He has been head of personal finance at
Telegraph Media Group since 2008, having been personal finance editor
since 1989. He joined the paper in 1986. He is @iancowie on Twitter.

For starters, gardeners and investors are often the same people. Richard Miles of lead sponsors M&G, pointed out: “By the time you have a garden to look after, you are likely to be thinking about how you are going to pay off the mortgage and save to fund retirement.”

1: Be patient. Don’t expect instant results from plants or your investment portfolio. Jamie Matheson, chairman of Brewin Dolphin – another sponsor of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show said: “Gardening is one of the most popular pastimes among our clients and fits well with our investment philosophy of taking a long term view, being patient through cold winters and ultimately being rewarded.”

2: Be vigilant. Little and often is the best way to water your garden and to regularly monitor the progress of your investments. Do not file and forget assets any more than you would fail to keep an eye on your herbaceous border.

3: Mix and match. No garden should be filled with only one type of flower – because that would make it dull for 50 weeks a year, when that plant is not in bloom, and prone to disease. Similarly, diversification is the surest way to diminish the risk in stock markets and maximise returns.

4: Don’t be afraid to prune. Just as deadwood should be removed to stimulate new growth in plants, your portfolio will benefit from dumping dud investments.

5: Thrive in adversity. Bad weather and economic shocks are ever-present risks for gardeners and investors but the good ones learn to live with them. Paul McNamara, managing director of Barclays Insurance & Investments, said: “Having just experienced the wettest spring on record, one has to admire many gardeners ploughing on regardless of what the elements throw their way.

“Similarly, with economic conditions continuing to be just as challenging, many people will be trying to figure out whether and how to adapt their financial plans. For investors, that means keeping a clear view of desired outcomes over an appropriately long term horizon whilst actively monitoring current conditions to adapt if necessary.”

6: Enjoy compound returns. Progress with substantial plants such as shrubs and trees may seem slow at first but, after a few years, each summer’s harvest is noticeably bigger than the last. The explanation is that 3.9pc – the current yield net of basic rate tax on the FTSE 100 – is worth a lot more on a portfolio of £100,000 than the same return on £1,000.

7: Avoid delay. The sooner you start gardening and investing, the sooner you will get through the dull or difficult early stages and begin to see why both are well worth the bother.

8: Make hay while the sun shines. ‘Buy low’ is the first step to making a profit and ‘sell high’ is the second. Use your annual Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowance to take up to £10,600 of profits this year tax-free.

9: Enjoy your garden and investments. Both can be rewarding hobbies – especially now that fewer people are retiring with final salary pensions and more of us manage our own retirement funds via Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs).

10: Don’t give up because of bad news. Jeremy Tigue, chairman of Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, said: “At present, investing is even more like gardening than usual. You can plan carefully and do all the right things but your work can be ruined by external events over which you have no control like the drought followed by heavy rain or political wrangling in Greece.” No matter how grim the weather forecast may seem today, remember, it can’t rain forever.